A look at the subtle or significant changes your neighbors are making as the economy hits home. This week:Foster-Powell.

Pat Miller of Amity dropped into Buck's Stove Palace in Southeast Portland on a recent morning to get a little information about installing a wood stove.

By the time he left, he not only had brochures, a list of parts and an installation estimate, he'd had a good dose of the kind of service he'd be getting from the proprietor, Robert "Buck" Froman.

Froman sat Miller down in what he called a "king's chair" and started peppering him with questions about his old house: the pitch of the roof, whether there had been a stove installed before and what kind of windows were in the place.

Froman, a former teacher who has owned the business at 6803 S.E. Foster Road since 1974, says he wants to sell stoves to people who are interested in "doing it right."

The place was hopping for a Monday morning, especially one in a deep recession. And Froman was at the center of the buzz.

He explained, with saintlike patience, how to install a stovepipe to a man who'd surely been in asking questions several times before. He spoke to another man who was thinking about trading in his old wood stove for a gas unit, finally signing the guy up for a $1 house call. And he accepted a small payment from a father who needed a stove to keep his family warm last winter but had no money.

Froman said the recession hasn't hurt his business. If anything, the number of stoves he's sold over the past three months is way up, he said, because of state and federal tax credits available to consumers of energy-efficient models. And he said his business is fine because he still knocks on a lot of doors and does those house calls.

Unlike 20 years ago, when people decided to buy because of the price, Froman said today's buyer is concerned with safety, energy-efficiency and clean air. Many of his customers are people who bought stoves in the 1970s and 1980s who are upgrading.

"I'm seeing people who want to buy more intelligently, for long-term use and durability," he said. "They'll spend a little more on a better stove that's more efficient and lasts longer."

The traffic buzzing by on Foster is one of Froman's best attractors. He said the thoroughfare, ripe with new upstarts, serves many trying to cut across the city.

Some stop in to check out his new wood stoves. But it doesn't take trained eyes to notice all the old stoves in Buck's Stove Palace. The basement is filled with Civil War-era models just waiting to be refurbished. So is the large warehouse on the next block.

Froman also owns the old Phoenix Drug Store a block to the west. The curved brick building is boarded up for now. Froman said he's struggling but hopes to turn that gem into a stove museum someday.